It’s a bird, It’s a plane, no wait It’s
by Forest Jaguar
Summary: Takes off from Schools Out Forever! Max and Gang are still on the run from Erasers. The Voice is sending Max horrible pictures of casualties of a dying world. And in the middle of it all, Clark Kent shows up? Chapter 10 is up!
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, glad you could stop by. I've been working on this plot for weeks, and it is my great pleasure to present it to you. PLease please review if you like it!**

**I own nothing except this plot.**

**Chapter 1**

It was morning, and since we had nothing to cook over a fire, we didn't bother building one. We were eating the last of our protein bars, and mine tasted oddly like hamburger meat. Sighing I tossed it aside and studied my flock. Nudge and Angel were chatting over Total. Gazzy and Iggy were thumb wrestling, apparently having already gulped down their bars. Fang was pulling on his boots. It was time to get down to business.

I sat up and snapped my fingers at them to get their attention.

"Okay guys, I think we should decide where to go now."

"What about Hawaii?" Nudge immediately volunteered. I thought for a moment. Hawaii did sound really good, but I wasn't sure about flying over the ocean. The more I thought about it, the more I realized if we were attacked by Erasers, we'd be sitting ducks, and our only chance to survive would be to outdistance them. I told her so, and immediately felt guilty when she pouted.

"Let's go to Mexico!" Gazzy cried excitedly.

"Let's go somewhere that doesn't have mosquitoes," Iggy said irritably, slapping at his neck, "and this hot weather."

"Like Alaska." Fang muttered.

"Oh! I wanna see snow! Let's go to Alaska!" Nudge shouted.

"Snow?" I mused, the flock had never seen snow before, and who knows if they ever would with these stupid Erasers chasing us, endangering our lives every second of every day. Suddenly snow sounded like a great idea.

"Alaska's still over the ocean, but how about we go up north? Past New York?"

Iggy and the younger kids crowed with joy.

I turned to Fang and asked, "How about it?" He looked at me with those dark eyes of his and said, "Let's do it."

**How about that? I know it's short, but I didn't have a lot of time. Longer ones will come. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, thanks for all of you who reviewed, I really appreciate it. I'll try my best to live up to all your expectations.**

****

******Chapter 2**

So, there it was. A new plan, a new course of action. We were going to Maine, and since it was December, it was probably buried under twenty feet of snow. It would be a nice change after all this hot weather.

Providing, you know, if Ari didn't show up and ruin everything by killing us on the way there.

But who knows? Maybe Erasers didn't like cold weather. Maybe my chip would freeze over and stop working when we hit the blizzards. Yeah right.

I told them to pack up and we were up in the air five minuets later. I decided to head east till we hit the shore, and then make our way north along the coast. That way we'd have a better chance skirting around Ari and Jeb and their pack of bloodthirsty Erasers.

You can't run from your destiny, Max. 

_Great, my voice was back. I hoped it wouldn't bug me all the way to Maine. _

Your destiny is apart of you, it defines who you are, down to your very soul. Rejecting it will only make things worse. 

_Yeah, make things worse for you_!

It quieted down after that, maybe I had made it mad. Ooh, too bad.

We were 600 feet above a lush pine tree forest, and the only thing for miles around was open, unpolluted sky. I breathed in deeply.

Ahhhh. No fumes, no smog, just clean air. It was a wonderful smell.

I could also smell my flock and in what positions they were flying in around me. That still surprised me, I mean I had never been able to smell their traces before.

Maybe this was a new skill. Lucky Me.

Fang was about ten feet below me, Nudge was to my left and Angel was on the other side. Iggy and Gazzy were behind me. Yep, just me and my flock, sailing over the world, one continent at a time. Hunted by evil beasts.

**I know it's short, but I didn't have a lot of time.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, so how are you liking this so far? I promise the chapters will get longer. Review, so i'll know! Thanks to all you who has already reviewed. Any questions?**

**Chapter 3**

We had been flying for about an hour and a half. I had wanted to make it to the beach before we got lunch, but apparently the beach wasn't showing up any time soon. Nudge would be getting hungry any time now. Especially since the breakfast we had was so meager.

"Max," Nudge said suddenly.

Right on schedule. I turned to her, "We're gonna stop soon-"

"I can see the beach." Nudge finished with enthusiasm.

I blinked in surprise and looked intently ahead of us. There it was, the big blue, about 15 miles ahead of us. I could barely make out the waves crashing onto the beach and motor boats dotting the water like lilies

I turned back to Nudge and shot her an embarrassed smiled.

I looked down at Fang. He had seen it too and was flying faster, his dark wings moving powerfully. Suddenly, I remembered that day at the beach, when I had kissed him in front of everyone. I wonder what had gone through his mind at the time. He felt my eyes on him and looked up, while I quickly looked back at the horizon.

We made it to the beach and dropped off the others while Fang and I headed off to find a supermarket.

There was a Publix a couple miles south of us. We stopped at the edge of the parking lot to pull on windbreakers, and then walked inside all casual. It was huge, probably about the biggest food store we'd been to so far. Plus there were only about 15 people around. Altogether, it was cool. No one would pay attention to us. Fang grabbed a cart and we walked through the aisles, pulling things out at random.

When our cart was half full, we made for the checkout lines. There was a guy in front of us, so I took the time to glance in my pocket to see that I had enough bucks-and gasped. I didn't have any money; there was nothing in my pocket, nata. Where had it gone, I was sure we'd have enough for two more stock ups. I looked up at Fang to find he was watching me with a grim expression on his face.

"We're out." I answered his fears.

"What happened to your money?"

"I don't know, maybe the boogey man took it." Truth be told, I kinda wondered if the guys who dropped me in that tank had took it. Crap.

Just as I was going over a plan in my head that involved distracting everyone while Fang made a run with the cart, in walked two men. Yeah, I know what you're thinking: two men, no big deal right? Except that these were no two ordinary men looking to buy some cookie dough. First of all, they were huge. I mean gigantic, it's a wonder how they were able to fit through the double doors. They had very broad shoulders, and must have been over seven feet tall. Okay, Maybe I'm exaggerating a little but I'm just trying to explain to you why these guys immediately caught my attention, besides the fact that they were wearing ski masks. And toting guns...in the crooks of their huge, gangly, gorilla arms.

A robbery? Jeez, can my day get any worse? You can imagine how all the shoppers in the immediate vicinity reacted to the sight of the huge, armed, gorilla men. First there was a sort of shocked silence and then suddenly there was an uproar of screaming, shrieking, yelling, shouting, crying, and I think I even heard one little kid behind us say "whoa". Then everyone was running in every direction besides the front of the store that the two armed men occupied. Fang and I were the only ones (besides the kid) who weren't freaking out. Not to say that we didn't react, I felt Fang tense beside me and I immediately put my game face on and crouched low, ready for some action. I knew this could get ugly really fast, especially if these guys decided to shoot somebody. But I would do everything I could to prevent that.

One of the two muscle men, who I immediately labeled as Jerk #1, lifted up his gun. I almost sprinted forward right then, afraid that he would shoot someone. But he just pointed it toward the ceiling and shot a hole through it with a BANG! The move was successful, everyone who was running stopped dead in their tracks, fear written all over their faces.

"Everyone get on the floor!" Jerk #2 shouted this in a gruff voice that was slightly muffled by his ski mask.

That was it; I couldn't take this any more. The muscle men had to go. I did a quick 360 around the area I was standing in, before spying the perfect object of distraction.

A soda can. Yep, in the right hands, a seemingly harmless 12 oz can of Coca Cola can become a dangerous weapon. To emphasize this, I snatched up the can, shook it with enough force to cause a minor earthquake, and aimed it at Jerk#1's face. To ensure the correct level of pain, I shouted out to the guy to get his attention, before cracking that baby open.

As expected, the contents of the coke spewed out at an alarming rate and hit the guy's face head-on. Immediately, he let out a pained roar that sounded sorta like, _AAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHH_ before clutching at his soda-soaked eyes.

_Yes! _Not having enough time to do a victory dance, I dropped the empty soda can and sped toward Jerk #1. Leaping up before I could run into him, I sent my booted foot into his face with a _crunch_ that almost made me cringe.

_Oooh, that's gotta hurt. _

The effect was great though: the thug let out a shriek that sounded somewhat like a girl's and slumped to the ground, clutching his bleeding nose in favor of his stinging eyes. I turned quickly around to find Fang throwing punches at Jerk #2 like there was no tomorrow. The human looked like minced meat, before his legs finally gave out and he too sank to the floor. I grinned at Fang before turning back to Jerk #1. He was still groaning on the floor, feet away from his dropped gun. I decided not to take any chances, so I rewarded him with another kick that made his eyes roll back in his head and he too was knocked out cold.

I stood for a minute and breathed out a sigh of relief. I was so glad that was over, and I had been amazed how easy it had been. I mean I knew humans were a lot more fragile than erasers but man,that felt too easy. I was driven out of my thoughts when a noise like heavy rain hitting a roof reached my ears. I was confused for a second, until finally I realized what it was and turned around slowly, a look of disbelieving wonder on my face.

They were clapping. Yeah, you read that right. There they were, the same shoppers who had been freaking out a moment ago were actually standing there clapping. At us. Or rather for us. I turned to judge Fang's reaction-and froze.

_No_, I pleaded silently, as the sound of clapping quickly faded into a shocked silence at the sight of what or rather _who_ stood before the double doors of Publix.

**A/N: Jeez, I'm so sorry, I had originally edited this story a few weeks after I had updated it and I don't know how, but half of it got erased and I just realized it when I was reading over my old chapters. Then I couldn't find the missing half so I had to rewrite it. So right now it's whole, I've fixed the problem, but its not the same as the original missing part. It's real close, but not the same. Confused yet? Just read this chapter over again and then you'll understand ch.4, which is the next chapter. Once again, sorry for the screwup.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello, so, how about that cliffie? Thanks for all the reviews, they're great. Paksennarion, Smallville is an awesome show on The WB. It's all about how Superman grew up. **

**Okay, here's Chapter 4. Enjoy.**

**Chapter 4**

He was holding a little girl up by her collar, and had a handgun pressed against the side of her head. She looked about 5 years old, with light brown hair. She was crying. My heart ached, she reminded me of Angel, my baby. None of us moved. I felt Fang tense beside me.

"Don't move, or I'll kill her!" _Dang, I don't know how I'm gonna get her out of this one._ _Maybe if I shocked him with my wings, but I didn't want to show all these people that I was a mutant freak_. I gazed around helplessly, and that's when I saw it.

Looking out the store window, I noticed that a black Trailblazer was parked crookedly across two lanes. I also noticed that it was on fire.

Without even thinking how it had gotten ablaze, I yelled at the top of my lungs, "Your car's on fire!"

The thug holding the girl was shocked into looking out the window.

That's when I made my move. I darted toward the girl, hoping to snatch her away from him. Unfortunately, the guy saw the movement and whirled around, firing his gun at my head. I watched, almost in slow motion, as the bullets sped toward my face. _Oh God, I'm going to die. This is it. This is what I get for helping people_. I almost shut my eyes. Almost.

But what happened next shocked and amazed even me. You know that soda can I dropped earlier? Well, when I sprinted toward the girl, it rolled right in my path. And this is what happened.

As bullets spit from the thug's gun, my left foot collided with the can.

I fell flat on my face; feeling the bullets that could have taken my life, pass harmlessly over my head and burry themselves in the floor.

And it didn't stop there. Thanks to the workers at Publix, who wax their floors every week, I shot across the tiles like I'd been blasted from a cannon. And bowled straight into the thug's legs, knocking them out from under him.

And so, the employees and customers of Publix watched flabbergasted, as the Hulk crashed to the ground, compliments of me. I stared for a moment, still lying on the floor, and then cracked up laughing.

**Reviews! I love them! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello, so you guys liked that last chapter? I enjoyed writing it. Anyway, thanks to all you great people who reviewed, it means alot to me. So, heres the next chapter.**

**Chapter 5**

I was still laughing when we flew out of there. Yep, it was a blast. Even though we nearly died, but there's life for ya.

And guess what? Since we saved Publix a ton of stolen money, they let us have our groceries for free! See, I am a genius! Haha!

We got to the beach to find most of the flock in the water. I gathered them all together, and while I broke out the food, Fang immediately launched into the story about Max, the human bowling ball.

Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel couldn't believe it, and they laughed for so long. I smiled at them happily.

There was just a little thing bothering me though, something I couldn't figure out.

_How had that Trailblazer caught on fire? _

After lunch, we rested our full stomachs for a minute then took off. Now we were going north, along the coast.

The sun was so hot; I could feel it baking my arms and face. Heck, I could even feel it baking my wings. I mean, there were some cold air currents coming from the ocean, but I still got fried. I had forgotten to buy sun block at Publix and now since I didn't have any dough, I couldn't. Nudge moved closer to me, her forehead slick with sweat.

"How long will it take us to fly to Maine?" she asked me.

"I don't know, sweetie, maybe a week." I really didn't know.

"Oh," she thought for a moment, and then her face lit up, "I can't wait till we see snow. I'm gonna make a snow angel, then I'm gonna build a snowman, and then I'm gonna get a sled-oh Max, can we buy a sled?"

"We don't have any money right now, Nudge. Maybe by then we'll have some money." _How? When it falls out of the sky? I hope our supplies will last till then._ Nudge kept on talking, saying all the things she would do when we got to the snow-states.

We flew till sunset, only resting once on a secluded beach. Then we made camp in a spruce of evergreen, and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for supper.

When the flocks were asleep, I sat down next to Fang, who had first watch and said, "Fang, how do you think that car got on fire?"

He looked at me, "I don't know, maybe the idiots left a cigarette burning or something." I nodded, but somehow I didn't think that was it.

Fang studied me in the dark, "What is the voice saying to you now?"

Hmmm, oddly I hadn't heard the voice all day. I told Fang so.

"You think it's planning something?" he asked quietly.

"I hope not, I mean, it was kinda mad that I had left Itex, but it didn't seem like it was out to get me."

We were quiet for a while. Somewhere a dove cooed. Was it out to get me? The voice I mean, not the dove.

**yawn This is making me tired.** **But, you know what makes me wide awake? Reviews!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, that last chapter was pretty short, but this one should be a little longer. Keep reviewing.**

**Chapter 6**

It's a bird. It's a plane. No, wait-its mutant bird kids!

Yes, there we were flying eight hundred feet above a state that seemed to be made more out of trees than actual towns. But that was cool.

I glanced back. Fang and Iggy were 3 yards behind me. Nudge and Angel were flying on my right and Gazzy was flying on my left, holding Total.

We'd been up in the air for 2 hours, and already the smell of saltwater wafting up to us was making me sick. Plus I was kinda getting freaking out over not hearing my Voice for two days straight. Not that I missed it. Haha, that'd be freaky. I was more scared about not knowing why it wasn't talking my head off. Maybe it was planning something. I almost cringed.

Fang glided up to me and said, "You think-" but was cut off when Angel screamed "Max!" Heart pounding I looked at her, to find she was pointing urgently to the west. "Erasers!" I whipped my head around and found my worst fears confirmed.  
There, three miles west and getting closer, were a group of maybe five bloodthirsty Erasers, lead by the devil's son himself, Ari.

_Dam. _

I glanced back at the flock, then at the forest below. I caught Fangs eye and he nodded. Turning quickly around he signaled to the rest of the flock and pointed downward. They zipped in through the trees, while Fang flew back to me. It was strange how he seemed to know exactly what I was thinking sometimes. I kept flying forward.

Fang and I would take care of this, no need to endanger the rest of the flock. As I searched the oncoming mutants for weapons, I wondered why Ari hadn't brought more backup; maybe Daddy didn't trust him anymore.

I caught Fang's eye and we turned and headed toward Ari. When we were 20 feet away, we stopped. Ari had a smug look on his face.

"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in," he sneered at me.

The erasers behind him laughed.

"Oh please, the only thing a cat would drag in is your sorry ass." I said in a bored voice. Ari's jaw tightened.

"Why did you leave, Max? We could have been great together, we could have been a team," he shot Fang a hateful look, "but instead you chose to hang out with these-"I chose that moment to hurl myself at Ari.

Pouring on the speed from the moment I took off and the 20 feet it took to reach him, I managed to slam into Ari going 150 miles an hour. We plowed into the two erasers immediately behind him, and then grappled in midair. I had him by his thick neck with one hand, and was throwing punches at his stomach with the other. Something hard hit me from behind and I dropped away from Ari. I turned around. Fang was facing off with two erasers. The other two were hovering with Ari , facing me. I wheeled around, titling my wings, and kicked one in the chin, snapping his head back. Then I landed a roundhouse kick to the other eraser's head. They both dropped to the ground. I looked back at Fang, watching him take out both his erasers, and then turned back to Ari.

"Looks like we won this time, dog-boy," I snarled at him.

He glared at me, but backed off, shouting, "You just wait, birdie, I'll be back and then you'll die! You and your little dog!" He laughed manically and flew off. Its official: Ari is crazy.

**Please review! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, sorry for the wait. I aven't got much time to talk, so here's Chapter 7. I hope you like it.**

**Chapter 7**

"Coo, coo, SSHHRRIIEEKK!" I jumped at the awful noise. Guess someone just found their dinner. God, Florida is like a freaking zoo. There are so many animals! I lost count of how many opossums, snakes, raccoons, and deer I've seen already. And nighttime was like a horror movie, when all the big animals seem to come out and eat all the smaller, defenseless ones. I'm actually amazed none us have gotten eaten by an alligator yet. I continued my patrol of our campsite, and then sat down beside a tree. I looked over at my flock. In the dark, I could make out Iggy and the Gasman lying near Angel. Nudge was curled up with Total, the wonder dog. Fang was separate from the rest, lying on his side, dark as a shadow.

We had been flying all day, heading closer and closer to the Alabama border. I was glad to leave Florida. Glad to be away from that cesspool Itex, where they had put me in a freaking sensory-deprivation tank. Why you ask? I don't know. They're just crazy that way: Jeb and the whole freaking team of scientists following him. Following me. Where ever I go.

Well, not like I could do anything about it. Besides killing them, I mean. But, I wasn't to that point yet.

I turned back to watch-mode, piercing the surrounding dark for any sign of danger. Yep, that was me: silent but deadly. The human cobra. I was about to get up so I could do another round, when like a bursting volcano, white-hot pain seared through my brain. I cried out, feeling as if my head was being torn to bits. I curled into a little ball of pain, clutching my head, and feeling hot tears cascade from my eyes. _MakeItStopMakeItStop!_

All of a sudden, pictures started flashing through my mind, and to my horror, I saw every one of them.

Bodies stacked high in a burning street.

Bodies scattered on the ground.

A mushroom cloud enveloping a crowd of people.

Children wondering abandoned streets.

Decaying bodies.

A whole city, burned to the ground.

More pictures flashed through my mind, all portraying death, misery, and terror. I wanted to barf. The pain wouldn't stop! _Just let me die now, so I don't have to deal with this anymore!_ I heard myself whimper pathetically.

Suddenly, strong arms were around me, embracing me in a warm hug. Fang.

And just like that, the pictures stopped. The pain stopped.

I was left gasping for breath and shaking. _What the hell was that? _

When my breathing slowed down, I opened my eyes and looked up. Fang's dark eyes looked down at me, concerned. I was wrapped in his arms, leaning against his chest.

"Are you okay," he asked in a concerned voice, "is it like before?"

I nodded at him, my face awash with tears. _Why is this have to happen to me? Why do I always have the freaky brain attacks, the invasive voice, the tracking chip? And now I was seeing freaking dead people! _

"I see dead people," I said, "like in pictures." His eyes widened slightly, his version of astonishment.

"I don't know what this is" I murmured, looking away, "maybe this is the voice getting back at me." Fang drew my face toward him, wiping away my tears with his hand. I looked into his eyes. "It'll be okay, we'll get through this," he said softly, now smoothing my hair, "I promise. Why don't you get some sleep?" I nodded and pulled away from his arms, heading toward my makeshift bed. Suddenly I stopped, turning back to look at Fang, who was watching me go. "Thanks, Fang," I said softly, "I don't know what I'd do without you." He smiled at that, making my world brighter.

**More Faxness to come!**


	8. Chapter 8

_And here's Clark! Yay! I hope I wrote his personality alright. If you think not, tellme in your reviews. Bye._

_Chapter 8_

Clark Kent was standing in a pine tree, leaning against the trunk with his arms crossed. He was looking down at a campsite situated between some trees 300 yards away. It was late afternoon, and the sun was behind him.

_What are they? Aliens, like me? I doubt it. They look just like ordinary kids, except for the wings. Maybe they were exposed to kryptonite._

There were six kids there, ages ranging from 5 to 14, eating out of cans. They had a dog, a little black terrier.

Clark had first seen them the day before, when they had flown past the window in his hotel room. He hadn't believed his eyes. He remembered running to window, just to make sure his vision hadn't failed him. But it was true.

There were flying kids in Florida.

They had these huge wings that were attached to the shoulder blades on their backs. And they flew magnificently, like six swans, gliding effortlessly on air currents. They were pretty fast too, though not nearly as fast as him.

But Clark couldn't figure them out. _What are they doing here? Where are their parents? Who was watching over them? They couldn't wander around on their own, it was dangerous! Even if they could fly. None of them are even 18, how did they get money to survive? _

He sighed, and then turned his attention back to the camp.

Some of them were talking. Time to investigate. Using his super-hearing, he tuned in on their voices.

"I hate Ari," said a little blond boy.

"I second that," replied a tall boy with strawberry hair.

"Why does he keep following us all the time?"said the blond boy.

"He wants to bask in our glow," said a tall boy with dark hair.

"No, he's just crazy," said a pretty girl Clark thought was the leader.

"Well, when will he stop?" asked a small girl with white wings.

"At the end of the world?" the boy with the dark hair asked.

"As soon as I kill him again," the leader said.

"But what if he just comes back to life again like last time?" a black girl asked.

"Then it's Fang's turn to kill him," said the leader.

"What if he comes back after that?" said the black girl.

"Maybe if we chop him up into little pieces, I don't think he'll come back then," said the boy with strawberry hair.

"Hey, that's an idea," said the leader.

" I vote Fang to do the chopping," said the leader.

"What? I don't think so," said the dark-haired boy.

"Oh, come on," said the leader.

"We'll have to buy a machete first…."said the blond boy.

"Maybe a bomb will do it," the strawberry boy asked.

"Do you have any left?" the blond boy asked.

"Okay, I think we should put this conversation on hold, it's time to go," the leader said.

Clark watched them start packing up.

Who's Ari? And why does he keep following them? It sounded like they were in trouble, they might need his help.

He threw himself from the tree, letting himself fall for a second. Then, using an unknown power, he arced up into the clear blue sky, zooming 300 miles an hour to his waterfront hotel. He reached it in five seconds. It had 15 floors and a beautiful view of the ocean. He had been there for a week, and now he was leaving it.

Clark flew to the 9th floor. Usually he would have used the elevator, but he was in a hurry. Sliding open a window, he jumped inside.

It was a gorgeous suite, complete with decorated bedroom, kitchen, living room, and bathroom. It had cost a fortune, but his parents wanted him to have a good vacation. Clark sped first to his closet, pulling out a black leather backpack.

Then he promptly stuffed everything that was in his closet into it. He then went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. He studied the contents: a couple of sodas, chips, basically junk food. He thrummed his fingers against the side of the fridge, wondering if he should leave it all. He didn't have time for this, moving faster than the speed of light; he crammed the food into another pocket of his backpack. He shot one last x-ray glance through all the rooms before heading out the door.

He raced down the stairs, and was in the lobby. It was a richly decorated room that covered the whole ground floor. Clark strode toward a long counter by the doors, where a thin man waited.

He turned in his room key and pulled out a credit card to pay for his stay.

He took one last reluctant look around the lobby that should have been his home for the next 2 weeks, and then headed out the doors. Oh well, he didn't mind cutting his vacation early. Someone needed to help those kids, and it seemed like he was the only on who could. Clark jogged around the corner of the building and halted near a stand of palm trees. Hoping no one would happen to glance out their window, Clark took off, his bag on his back. He flew back to where he'd seen the kids.

They were gone.

He hoped they hadn't changed direction. Clark headed north, where the kids had been heading since yesterday.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys, I'm really sorry about the long wait. If you could just find it in your hearts to forgive me….**

**Chapter 9**

The sky was dark, and silent. A full moon hung overhead, casting its translucent light on a landscape of lush pine and oak. Hardly a sound issued from that forest, except that of crickets rubbing their legs together. A northern wind blew softly, ruffling the leaves of the plants and stirring the undergrowth so that a heady earth smell wafted up into the night. Somewhere nearby, an owl hooted, breaking the calming silence with stark defiance.

Suddenly, a dark shape shot out from behind a cloud, to hover motionless in front of the moon's eerie form. If one could look closely at it, one would see something very very strange.

The figure was in fact, that of a small boy with blonde hair. But the fact that his hair was blonde was not the most shocking; it was the fact that the boy had _wings._ And what a pair of wings they were, enormous compared to his body, they were approximately nine feet in length and golden-brown.

The boy stared down into the depths of the forest below him, turning his head this way and that as if listening for something. His wings moved up and down, keeping his small body aloft in the glow of the moon.

"Pssst!" The sound came from the near darkness surrounding the moon. The boy glanced that way.

"What, Max?" The boy said in a loud voice before turning back to searching the forest.

"Gazzy, get back here! And be quiet, you've probably alerted every eraser within five miles of us!" At this the boy looked sheepish and shot back toward the dark clouds.

"What were you doing? Anyone could've seen you!" I whispered. Behind her hovered Fang, Iggy, Nudge, and Angel. Total was asleep in Nudge's arms.

"I heard an owl," Gazzy said simply, as if that explained everything. I gave him an exasperated look before turning back to the rest of the flock.

"We're gonna crash here for tonight, okay guys?" As I made out their nods in the dark, I turned back around and continued onward, searching the forest below us. A few moments later I sighted it, a clearing situated near the edge of a small lake. Perfect. I signaled to the flock and then shot downward.

BAM!

The explosion echoed harshly around them and I jerked upward out of my dive as I felt something zoom past my head. A dozen startled birds shot out of the trees to their right.

_Erasers!_

I whipped around and signaled to my likewise startled flock. The smaller kids and Iggy dispersed immediately, shooting for the cover of the nearby trees behind her. Fang flew to my side.

_I can't believe those mutts found us already._

I turned back around, anger flooding my veins and searched the clearing I nearly landed in, ready to tear into some eraser flesh.

My eyes landed on the figure of a lone man, standing in the middle of the clearing and holding a shotgun. To one side of the clearing lay a small tent…..

_A camper!_.

Before I could gape at the man, Fang shoved me out of the gun's range.

BAM! BAM!

Bullets shot past us as Fang and I darted toward the trees. We landed in the dark underbrush and stood stock still, listening. I thought quickly about what I should do. As much as I wanted to go back there and teach that guy a lesson, another part of me argued that he was just protecting himself in a way. I mean, if I saw a group of huge bird-like creatures eyeing my campsite I'd probably freak out too. I decided leaving him alone would be best.

After a moment of silence, Fang spoke up, a hint of anger in his voice.

"I'm going back." He stood up and started toward the direction of the clearing.

I jumped up, all too aware of what Fang meant to do (beat the crap out of that guy) and grabbed his arm. "Wait! You can't just go charging back there, he has a gun." Fang looked at me, an expression crossing his face that I didn't recognize.

"He almost killed you." He stated angrily.

"He's a human, not an eraser," I argued, "he probably thought we were demons or something, I mean look at us!" Which was true, we probably did look like something out of The Exorcist with these wings. Or, you know, the Bible. Depends which way you look at it.

Fang still looked mad, but I felt his resolve dwindling.

"Come on," I said before taking to the air.

I made sure Fang was behind me before flying a safe distance from the clearing. Then I stopped and whistled into the night air. Iggy and the younger kids shot out from the trees to our left and flew to me.

"Let's find somewhere else to crash, guys." I said to them.

"Are there erasers down there?" Nudge asked. Gazzy and Angel looked at me, waiting for an answer. Iggy turned his head toward my voice.

"No, just some idiot," Fang answered first, still mad.

"Why were they shooting at us?" Gazzy questioned, turning around and glaring back at the clearing. Total snorted in his sleep and mumbled something in Nudge's arms before falling back to sleep.

"It doesn't matter, we're leaving." I stated before flying off again.

**Longer, eh? Do you like it? Review!**


	10. Chapter 10

Hello! You didn't think you'd be hearing from me again, did you? Well, I'm terribly sorry about that long long long wait in which I, for the most part slept and I intend not to let it happen again!

Also, I shall, from here on out, take up the liberty of recognizing you wonderful people who have reviewed so far. This shall be at the bottom of the page.

So, after much ado, here is **Chapter 10!!!**

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The night sky, though light as it was, still cast a shadow over Clark's still figure. He stood on the tall bough of a bony pine tree which slightly swayed in the night breeze along with hundreds of other trees of different sizes and varieties that made up the dark forest in which he was located. The temperature up in the tree was chilly, being somewhat below 56 degrees, but it did not affect Clark. That, along with several other attributes, was one of the perks to being a super-powered alien.

A sudden, erratic burst of wind shook his tree and almost caused Clark to fall from his perch, but he managed to grasp a hanging branch just in time. Even if he had fallen, he would've walked away unhurt, but he guessed it was natural instinct, Clark thought as he positioned himself as he was before and again turned his attention back to hunting.

He had lost the "flock", which was what the kids called themselves, a few miles back, when he had stopped in a suburban area to help a little girl get her cat out of a tree. It had only cost him a few minutes to land a little ways down the street from the girl, walk by and feign surprise when he saw the girl's predicament, offer his help, and scale the tree to reach the cat. But when he was again airborne he had lost sight of the group of kids.

He had flew in the direction they were heading, sure that he would come across them again, and sure enough, he had caught the sounds of their voices a few minutes ago as he flew over this forest. He was lucky he had heard them when he did, because if he had kept flying, they would've sighted him and he wasn't exactly sure that now was the time for a confrontation. So he had quickly hidden in this tree so as to better watch them. Right now, Clark was trying to find their location, but the sound of the wind plus the cries and calls of the night creatures were making it hard to sift out the kids' soft voices-

There! Clark leaned forward unconsciously as he tuned his super hearing in to a voice coming from the dark clouds overhead.

"What Max?" It was a boy's voice. Clark peered up at the sky where he heard it and sighted a figure in front of the moon. It was a small blonde boy, the same kid that he had seen earlier. Clark relaxed now that he had finally found the flock again and leaned back against the trunk of his pine tree. He kept his eyes on the boy, determined not to lose them again. Their voices continued to waft down to him.

"Gazzy, get back here! And be quiet, you've probably alerted every eraser within five miles of us!" This, a girl's voice came from a cloud beside the moon. Clark turned to the cloud cover, focusing his gaze on it as he continued to listen to what sounded like a developing argument. Suddenly, the ghostly white images of winged skeletons appeared in an above cloud. He'd learned enough from his anatomy classes to realize that three of the skeletons were girls and three were boys. There was also the little dog skeleton held in the bony arms of a little girl. The tallest of the girls was the one talking with the young boy.

"What were you doing? Anyone could've seen you!" She said.

"I heard an owl." Clark chuckled at this reply.

The girl looked at the boy a little longer and then turned to the rest of the flock.

"We're gonna crash here for tonight, okay guys?" At this Clark looked disbelieving at the kids above. They're just sleeping out in the woods? And without any shelter? Are they crazy? He thought. He continued to watch them as they flew off a little distance and hovered over a spot above the trees. He was thinking over where he himself should spend the night when the first shot rang out.

BAM!!!!

Clark's body jumped at the harsh sound and his mind immediately went into over drive. He knew none of the kids had a gun on them, he had checked. So that left only one possibility: someone was shooting at them. Clark threw himself into the air and flew toward the kids as fast as he could. Maybe whoever was shooting at them was the guy they were talking about, Ari. He hoped to God that none of them got hit. He couldn't believe how stupid he'd been, he should've checked the forest with his x-ray vision. He would've seen if there was anyone in it. He caught sight of the kids ahead of him; they were swarming around like-

BAM!!BAM!!! Two more shots interrupted his thoughts and a sickening feeling filled his stomach. He surged forward faster, intending to charge in there and stop whoever it was who was shooting at these defenseless kids-when he caught sight of the gunman. It was a lone guy, standing in a clearing in the trees, a shotgun in his hands. But that's not what made him stop; it was what was by the man. A small tent stood under a tree to the right of him and a half-built campfire lay by his feet. A camper? Or was this really the guy they called Ari? He looked around him as he tried to decide what to do. The kids were nowhere in sight and he was hovering there all alone. Crap. Clark made up his mind and shot toward the campsite of the stranger. The guy only had about a second for his eyes to widen before Clark dropped in front of him and had him by the neck. The guy was of average build and was dressed in a thick jacket and jeans. Judging by his face, he seemed to be about 40-45 years old. This couldn't be the guy the kids were talking about.

"Who are you?" He whispered fiercely to the guy.

"I-I-I" The man stammered, his voice clogged with fear.

"Are you Ari?" Clark tried again.

"N-n-"The man gave up on trying to get the words out and just shook his head no. Clark believed him.

"Why were you shooting at those kids?" He asked, anger rising in his voice. He could've killed one of them. One of them could be dying from a gunshot wound right now.

"Never mind" he interrupted the guy's stammers, "but if I ever see you shooting at them again I'll come back and hunt you down." Clark glared at the man to make sure he understood, and then released him. The man staggered away in a hurry, but Clark was already walking away. He made his way through the trees, distancing himself from the camper just in case he tried to come back with his shotgun. The shot wouldn't have hurt him but it might've slowed him down and make him lose the kids again. He used his x-ray vision and scanned the trees all around him, searching for the kids.

Suddenly, a whistle pierced the night air and Clark's head whipped around at the sound. That had to be them. He stayed where he was though. He didn't want to shoot out of trees and give away his position. He still wasn't sure if the kids had seen him or not. Did it even matter? What if one of them was hurt and it was all his fault because he was too preoccupied with hiding from them? Should he make himself known now? These thoughts ran through his head as he watched the sky. All of a sudden, he saw four winged skeletons dart out of the trees. He followed their figures with his eyes to where they joined a fifth and six winged figure in the sky. Clark sighed in relief, not seeing any signs of a wound on the kids above. He tuned in their voices just in case though.

"Let's find somewhere else to crash, guys," the tall girl said this.

"Are there erasers down there?" This question which came from the little black girl confused Clark. Why were they worried about erasers?

"No, just some idiot," the teenager with dark hair said this.

"Why were they shooting at us?" asked the little blonde boy. Clark would like to know that answer himself too.

"It doesn't matter, we're leaving." Replied the leader. Clark watched them as they flew off into the night, the full moon shining on their winged backs.

They were safe, for now, but how long would it last? He had to talk to them, and now seemed the perfect time.

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Yes!! Four whole pages! Ok, now I would like to thank all you who have reviewed thus far and all of you who will, hopefully, review in the near future. Thank You to:

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